I take the point that McCarthy is more like Gana. My point was also based around the thinking that if Schneiderlin is not going to offer any creativity, would we not be better off playing (again, if fit) McCarthy because at least he generally does better at stopping the opposition scoring. I think Morgan has been less than directly culpable in many goals conceded this season.

Schneiderlin on his game was and will be better but for the moment something is wrong with him.

Yeah, talking about the defence you‘re probably right. But that would make our toothless attack even worse.

it does my head in when people slag off a player as not good enough when playing in their first few matches after a serious long term injury

done so many times on here - already this season with besic and mccarthy's whipping is coming up soon if he can get a game

McCarthy's whipping came a long time ago, what we're seeing now is the continuation of it. In a side lacking in balls and character the last thing you need is another spineless body hiding from the football in the middle of the park.

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McCarthy's whipping came a long time ago, what we're seeing now is the continuation of it. In a side lacking in balls and character the last thing you need is another spineless body hiding from the football in the middle of the park.

yeah for me seems your frustration is with the team and the situation rather than the player. mccarthy's got some limitations and maybe we'll find he won't recover from this injury. on his day hes a decent player capable of covering a lot of ground and pressing all over the park who played injured for a long time so for me at least deserves a chance to get back fit and be part of the squad before being written off as useless/spineless etc.

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yeah for me seems your frustration is with the team and the situation rather than the player. mccarthy's got some limitations and maybe we'll find he won't recover from this injury. on his day hes a decent player capable of covering a lot of ground and pressing all over the park who played injured for a long time so for me at least deserves a chance to get back fit and be part of the squad before being written off as useless/spineless etc.

got no time for slagging off EFC players on their way back to fitness whatever their strengths/weaknesses are

Not sure where you get this from. He's been on his way back to fitness for the past three years and when he does play he takes no responsibility and thinks it's okay to just chase after the ball like a Jack Russell in the park.

Complete nothing player and at this moment in time we need players who want to stand up and be counted.

Not sure where you get this from. He's been on his way back to fitness for the past three years and when he does play he takes no responsibility and thinks it's okay to just chase after the ball like a Jack Russell in the park.

Complete nothing player and at this moment in time we need players who want to stand up and be counted.

Roy Keane believes that Everton need to take responsibility for James McCarthy's injury problems, saying they "have to look at what they are doing themselves".

McCarthy is with the Republic of Ireland squad for their crucial World Cup Qualifiers against Moldova and Wales, despite not having played at all for Everton this season.

Club and country have consistently disagreed over McCarthy's injury problems in recent months, but Ireland assistant manager Keane is clear on where he feels the blame lies.

Keane said: "James seems to be getting a lot of injuries at Everton so I don't think we've anything to be worried about in terms of how much we push James.

"The medical staff are overseeing all of it and are in contact with Everton and all their scientists. I think they've more scientists involved than there needs to be.

"I always think clubs, as much as they look at what we're doing, they certainly have to have look at what they are doing themselves. But James seems pretty upbeat and we're glad to have him here."

McCarthy has recently been struggling with a persistent knee injury, but on Monday, Ireland manager Martin O'Neill refused to rule him out of the upcoming Qualifiers, starting with their game at home to Moldova, live on Sky Sports Football from 7:15pm on Friday.

Keane did admit that the midfielder cannot train fully, and said: "James joined in today, he probably did about 70% of what the other players would have done.

"I spoke to him and he seemed to be ok. We don't want him to over-do it but at some stage you've got to join in, get involved and play some sort of 11vs11 if you can."

Keane appeared to be exasperated with McCarthy's inability to train fully. When asked about the player's workload, he repeated that McCarthy could only do "a little bit" each day, before adding "then he can go back to Everton and we'll see how their scientists deal with it."

It is currently unclear whether McCarthy, who has 41 caps, will be fit for the Moldova game on Friday, with O'Neill saying that they are evaluating his situation on a "day-by-day" basis.

Ireland are currently one place and one point behind Wales, who occupy the play-off spot in Group D with two matches remaining.

Roy Keane believes that Everton need to take responsibility for James McCarthy's injury problems, saying they "have to look at what they are doing themselves".

McCarthy is with the Republic of Ireland squad for their crucial World Cup Qualifiers against Moldova and Wales, despite not having played at all for Everton this season.

Club and country have consistently disagreed over McCarthy's injury problems in recent months, but Ireland assistant manager Keane is clear on where he feels the blame lies.

Keane said: "James seems to be getting a lot of injuries at Everton so I don't think we've anything to be worried about in terms of how much we push James.

"The medical staff are overseeing all of it and are in contact with Everton and all their scientists. I think they've more scientists involved than there needs to be.

"I always think clubs, as much as they look at what we're doing, they certainly have to have look at what they are doing themselves. But James seems pretty upbeat and we're glad to have him here."

McCarthy has recently been struggling with a persistent knee injury, but on Monday, Ireland manager Martin O'Neill refused to rule him out of the upcoming Qualifiers, starting with their game at home to Moldova, live on Sky Sports Football from 7:15pm on Friday.

Keane did admit that the midfielder cannot train fully, and said: "James joined in today, he probably did about 70% of what the other players would have done.

"I spoke to him and he seemed to be ok. We don't want him to over-do it but at some stage you've got to join in, get involved and play some sort of 11vs11 if you can."

Keane appeared to be exasperated with McCarthy's inability to train fully. When asked about the player's workload, he repeated that McCarthy could only do "a little bit" each day, before adding "then he can go back to Everton and we'll see how their scientists deal with it."

It is currently unclear whether McCarthy, who has 41 caps, will be fit for the Moldova game on Friday, with O'Neill saying that they are evaluating his situation on a "day-by-day" basis.

Ireland are currently one place and one point behind Wales, who occupy the play-off spot in Group D with two matches remaining.

Or maybe McCarthy is just an injury prone footballer and all round soft bloke.